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How High-Tech Carpooling Saves Gas, Money and Time

As gas prices continue to climb along with car maintenance costs and environmental concerns, the concept of carpooling to work and around town has never been more appealing. But there's a lot of hassle and research that goes into finding a reliable person to share a ride with — not to mention the safety concerns.

Urban carpooling is becoming more popular not only in the U.S. but also worldwide, thanks to companies that offer commuters safe and affordable ways to share rides on the way to work, to shopping malls and for road trips.

Without needing to rely on finding drivers and passengers via classified ads, more high-tech platforms are pairing commuters with like-minded people traveling to similar destinations on the same schedule. Take a look at the concepts below, and let us know if you've been involved in urban carpools. If so, how did you find your buddy? Let us know in the comments.

1. Singapore: MyRideBuddy

With more than 500,000 cars on the road in Singapore and about 1 million rides taking place each day to commute to work, traffic and pollution are two main causes for concern throughout the country. In fact, transportation contributes to 20% of total carbon dioxide emissions in Singapore each year.

Enter MyRideBuddy (MRB), a service that matches Singapore's drivers with riders. To help cut back on traffic congestion, pollution and transportation costs, the carpooling platform uses an advanced real-time algorithm engine to match people going in a certain direction with someone else headed to the same area. MRB goes beyond just matching rides; it also matches preferences, coordinates scheduling and facilitates payments.

In using MRB, a rider pays a small transaction fee, as well as a fee to cover transportation costs. The transportation costs are transferred to the driver electronically, so no cash is exchanged. After the ride is complete, MRB users send a text with a four-character pin code to system to let it know that the ride has taken place. You can also rate the ride, write reviews or request future rides with the same driver — or request not to be matched with them again.

"MyRideBuddy aims to build a community of like-minded people in a green network, who feel good about contributing towards reducing traffic congestion and carbon footprint and connect with each other," the company says on its website.

An iPhone and Android app is also available, so carpools can be set up and organized on the go.

2. France: Green Monkeys

Another global popular urban carpooling service, Green Monkeys, is making a big impact in France and Switzerland. Similar to MRB, Green Monkeys allows users to pick a carpooling schedule to organize pickups. Its "Match Monkey" platform can also match carpoolers with atypical schedules, so someone can carpool with one person in the morning and another person at night.

Commuters can update their schedule at any time via their account dashboard. The company also ensures sure that people aren't left hanging when cancellations come up — it quickly re-partners customers with alternate passengers and drivers.

If the system can't make a match, Green Monkeys will pay for public transportation or a taxi to get the person where they need to go. (Representatives are on standby to help provide support when needed.)

The price between 1 and 50 kilometers is about $0.25 a mile. For more than 50 km, the price drops to $0.08 per mile.

Since traveling with a stranger is an obvious concern, customers must register ahead of time and provide a photo, as well as other information. Many times, users have to be associated with a place of employment. Users can also select to meet at points other than a place of residence, and the services keep track of who is with whom every step of the way.

3. United States: Zimride & Avego

There are a variety of platforms in the U.S. that offer carpooling services, too. For example, Silicon Valley-based start-up ZimRide connects people to others in the same circle, such as students at certain universities or co-workers. Traveling from San Diego to Santa Barbara? You can list the empty seats available in your car and charge a fee, such as $20 each way.

Zimride requires users to sign in through Facebook, which allows both the driver and the rider to see pictures and do profile checks ahead of time.

"Partnering with Facebook allows carpooling to happen in a safe way. People can look into who they will be riding with before a trip and make sure they feel comfortable," explains John Zimmer, co-founder of ZimRide.

Zimmer addes that people have formed relationships with those they have met through Zimride, from new business partners to romantic relationships. Check out the quirky ad below that shows how you might even make a new friend along the way.

"We want to be the next evolution of transportation, with a focus on social and bringing interaction offline," Zimmer says. "If someone is considering taking a bus or train, we want Zimride to a part of the conversation too."

Not surprising, the service is most popular in Los Angeles, a city known for its traffic congestion and eagerness to use the carpool lane. ZimRide plans to grow its user base in other regions in the near future.

Meanwhile, Avego is another carpooling service on the market in both the U.S. and various cities abroad — including Dublin, Ireland. This service doesn't require a lot of pre-planning: If there is an empty seat in the back of your car, you can turn your vehicle into a bus and allow others to book a spot almost immediately along the route you're traveling.

When a driver picks up a rider, they have to verify identity and cashless payment via a text sent from the company. Avego automatically shares the cost of the ride between the driver and the passenger.

"While the service has already been working among an enthusiastic group of users, we only have hundreds or thousands of participants in certain cities right now, such as Seattle," said Sean O'Sullivan, co-founder of Avego. "But we are growing fast in other areas with pilot programs in Washington D.C., San Francisco and Santa Barbara. We expect to grow from having tens of thousands of users to over 100,000 users within the next 12 months."

Series supported by BMW i

The Global Innovation Series is presented by BMW i, a new concept dedicated to providing mobility solutions for the urban environment. It delivers more than purpose-built electric vehicles; it delivers smart mobility services within and beyond the car. Visit bmw-i.com or follow @BMWi on Twitter.

Are you an innovative entrepreneur? Submit your pitch to BMW i Ventures, a mobility and tech venture capital company.

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